Autumn is a second spring

34. Makeup

"Sometimes, I curse myself for whatever is happening in his life." Sammy's voice trembled.

"What does it have to do with you, Sammy?" Fluke asked patiently.

"I feel like I am responsible for everything, Fluke. If I hadn't made him take the audition for that series, maybe P' Boun wouldn't have reentered his life. I do understand that they met way before that, but their relationship had also ended then. If not for that stupid role, they wouldn't have gotten reconnected, and things wouldn't have been this big of a mess!"

'And here I was the one who overthought everything the most. I just realized that pregnancy hormones can do wonders to one's overthinking capacity' Fluke thought in his mind.

"Samsam, listen." Fluke grabbed both her shoulders gently, making her face him. "Whatever is happening in between Prem and P' Boun has nothing to do with you, alright?"

"How can it have nothing to do with me, Fluke? I was the one who~"

"It was Prem's choice, Sammy. He was the one who chose P' Boun. He was the one who chose to be in this relationship, and he is the one who chose to stay in the relationship even after all the adversities he had to face. It was all his decision, his choices. None of those decisions has anything to do with you, me, or anyone else in this world. So, stop blaming yourself." 

Sammy tightly shut her eyes, trying to calm her surging emotions.

"As for the part where you said that you feel bad that you made Prem take the audition, I think that it was the best thing you did for him Sammy" Fluke raised her chin to look her in the eye. "If you hadn't done that he would have never even thought of venturing into the entertainment industry, and it would have been a huge loss for him."

Fluke spoke in a gentle and calming tone. "Prem has always been a multi-talented kid. But all his attention had been focused on sports and athletics that the rest of his talents were ignored. He has an amazing voice, and he is talented in dancing and acting. Yet, the only time he had volunteered himself to dance and sing was on that Valentine's Day to propose to Kate back in middle school."

Both of them chuckled as they recalled the memory of Prem's dance performance in middle school.

"But look at the Prem you have now. He is one of the most popular Thai Artists both nationally and internationally. Do you think that all this is a bad thing?" Fluke probed.

"No," Sammy said softly.

"Then what?"

"It's just that I find few incidents very disturbing, Fluke. I don't know if I should say it out to Prem. I am worried of how he will react or how it is going to affect his relationship with P' Boun."

"What incidents, Sammy?" Fluke narrowed his eyes.

"The other day, when I and P' Ton was out to have dinner at a restaurant, I saw P' Boun along with his staff there. When I asked the waiters in the restaurant, they told me that P' Boun had booked the restaurant just to throw a surprise birthday party for one of his staff." Sammy gritted her teeth in anger. "Then I was like 'what the hell?' He had the peace of mind to throw a birthday party for some random staff but totally forgot about Prem's birthday."

Fluke raised his eyebrows silently. He was unaware of the incident. He had been too busy with his work and the mess Fame had created that he hadn't been paying much attention to what Boun was doing.

"I understand that he likes to be friendly to his staff, but do he have to go to this extend? I don't know how Prem is going to feel when he gets to know that P' Boun only got to know that his birthday was coming because P' Ton asked James to clear his schedule for Prem's birthday project." Sammy huffed in anger. She could literally shred Boun into pieces at that moment.

Fluke didn't find Boun forgetting Prem's birthday a big deal but when the case came that the former had remembered even a staff member's birthday, he was angry.

"Let's leave all those matters aside, let me tell you another incident." Sammy had no intention on holding back. She wanted to tell everything to Fluke and empty her head. "During, P' Boun's Khun Yaay's birthday party, Prem went there with all the Guntachais and you know what those people called him? They called him a gold digger, someone who is with P' Boun only because he has money. They were insulting him left and right in that party but P' Boun was busy socializing as the host."

Noticing that Sammy's blood pressure was going up as her anger rose, Fluke handed her a bottle of water.

Sammy took a sip of it and continued. "Prem heard all of those and I think that the extravagant ring and all that is just a way of telling them that he is not a gold digger. That he is perfectly able to make money himself."

She held Fluke's hand "Flukie, I don't expect you to understand what I am saying now. You were born and brought up in a rich family. But that is not the case for me and Prem. Do you remember how both of us used to be punished by arjan to stand outside the class for not paying school fees on time? It's not that we didn't want to pay, Fluke. It was that our parents couldn't raise that much money on time. We weren't poor, but we weren't rich. When I see Prem spending all his life savings on a ring that P' Boun would probably only keep inside a safe, I feel bad for my friend. "

Fluke couldn't bring himself to say anything as a retort. Everything Sammy said were facts.

"All these years, Prem had been trying to prove himself. In front of P' Boun, his family, his friends. His whole being is being sacrificed just for the sake of proving that he is a worthy partner for P' Boun. In between all this he has turned into someone else. It breaks my heart to see him like this. To do everything but never get acknowledged." Sammy felt a lump in her throat as she finished speaking. She took another sip of the water.

Fluke hugged Sammy tightly. "That is why I want three of us to support him. No matter who else turns his back on him, we shouldn't. We are his biggest support system. We have to catch him if he falls on day." He cupped her face. "Please make up with him, na. He will break if you don't. He needs you Samsam. More than me, more than Earth. We all know that you are the best of his best friends." He placed a gentle kiss on her temples.

Sammy slowly nodded.